City of Clouds
by Shax
Summary: Sonic's adventure continues. Cinos is up to mischief in a bizarre floating city, and Sonic cops the penalties for it.


CITY OF CLOUDS 

Series 3 - The Runes of Awakening   
Episode 7   
Quest for the Rune of Fleg 

Visit Shax's Virtual Den   
E-mail the author 

Heroes are not born, dear listeners. Every creature among us, no matter the race, no matter the species, has the capacity to choose a path of either good or evil. The choice one goes with is dependant on one's priorities. For example, greed, priority given to oneself, eventually corrupts the mind and leads one towards the side of evil. Selflessness, priority given to others, keeps the mind in a state of purity, leading one towards the side of good. Likewise, neither the evil nor the good do anything they see as being bad, only beneficial. Taking Sonic, our hero, for example, who intends to benefit others by embarking on an epic journey. Cinos, our villain, on the other hand, intends to benefit himself by searching for a power beyond even his own comprehension. Both seek to benefit their priorities, and to do otherwise would be an act that is, in their eyes, truly bad.   
Therefore, heroes are not born, they make a choice and are created, and the circle goes on. And so must our story go on. It is time to continue our tale, time to...... 

"........Wake up, Sonic!"   
Sonic's eyes slowly opened, blinked twice, and stared at the chameleon standing over him.   
"Where... are we?"   
The room was not familiar in the least. Strange, drab yet soothing decor all around. And, for the first time since before Sonic could remember, he was lying on a frightningly comfortable bed.   
"You know!" Espio replied, a look of confusion on his face, "The hotel? The great friggin' resort in the sky?"   
"We're dead?" Sonic asked. Espio just threw a pillow at him. The hedgehog chuckled and picked himself up. "I remember. Heck, I haven't slept two nights in a row in the same place since January sometime.. you just try that sometime and see how much you remember in the morning."   
Espio sat down on a sofa, throwing his arms up behind his head. His scales changed colour to match the decor. "Isn't this great! I've never stayed at a place like this before.. heck, I haven't spent a single night outta the desert all my life!"   
Sonic walked to a window and opened the blinds. "Yeah, well this is a far cry from the desert, buddy boy."   
Clouds.. as far down as the eye could see were clouds, and occasionally the hedgehog could catch a glimpse of the planet Mobius, far below. They were a very long way up, which was why it was called Stratospherion - The City of Clouds. 

CHAPTER ONE: 

Sonic didn't stick around in the Crux Desert after the unfortunate, terrifying encounter with his old enemy Metal Sonic. He and Espio departed southeast to follow Cinos to the next Rune of Awakening hotspot, wherever it might be. What they encountered was a lot of farmland, cattle and villages, and some of these villages accepted the two travellers with open arms. For a while, they rested, ate and slept in the homes of strangers, always keeping track of where Cinos and Rasputan were headed. To say the least, such close watch was becoming tedious, especially now that the terrible two were taking precautions. Neither duo had come in contact with the other since the desert, it was possible that Cinos and Rasp didn't even know Sonic was still alive, and almost certain they didn't know he was with Espio. Still, they were starting to get sneaky.. moving on at nighttime, leaving the obvious roads and trails and trekking across the country, even if it meant taking a longer way around. They were determined not to be followed.. Sonic decided he should find some way to find out more about the runes himself, so he didn't have to follow his evil clone so closely.   
It was simple chance that he and Espio were picked up by Stratospherion as it passed close by. About twice a week it descended close to the ground and docked close to a teleporter so as to let people off and on. Sonic and Espio just happened to be resting in the docking town of Storm Port when the gigantic floating city came down. Asking about it, Sonic discovered that there was an enormous library in the City of Clouds... one of the biggest in existance, in fact. Sonic decided that it was his oppertunity to achieve the knowledge that he'd been deprived of for the journey thus far - he still didn't understand what Cinos was talking about. All he knew was that he wanted to be higher than a god, and the process involved five rocks. He needed more information if he wanted to stop his twisted clone. So, he jumped on the bandwagon.   
Stratospherion was like a gigantic resort built on a floating land mass, much the same as Floating Island except smaller. This island, however, was completely Mobian constructed. It was a marvel of engineering, hovering thousands of feet off the ground using thousands of propellers, some kind of jetpacks that used compressed air, and, more than likely, emerald fragments with the same properties as the Master Emerald itself. It was like a deluxe cruise ship, flying in a six-day circuit before docking for twenty-four hours to fill the rest of the week. Its main dock was a city called Sun Port, to the northwest. Stratosphereon would depart Sun Port, fly overland for three days until it reached Storm Port, where it docked for an hour or two before blasting away again over the open ocean, back to Sun Port. It was a schedule that was kept very well, as the city's speed could be adjusted by the pilots at will.   
The City of Clouds, in Sonic's opinion, was perhaps Mobius' most relaxing place. There was no apparent crime whatsoever. Everybody loved each other, though the emotion sometimes appeared forced. It could be sickening and soothing at the same time. 

"Let's go have a look at this library, then." Sonic suggested. "Better not waste too much time."   
"We can't help but waste time!" Espio replied, "That guy in town said it's three days before this thing docks again. And what are we gonna do? Leave?" He glanced out the window at the passing clouds. "It's a long way down, buddy."   
Sonic's shoulders slumped. "I guess. But I'd kinda like to get this over with straight away. We'll have some fun afterwards. See what this bird has to offer us."   
Espio nodded, and Sonic opened the door to the outside.   
Beyond the hotel room, Stratospherion was a multi-layered complex of shops, transport and people. Mobians bustled past, going about their daily activities. Sonic and Espio made their way into the crowd to try and locate the giant library that was supposed to be there somewhere. First, they needed a map.   
There was a small newsagency just off the road, with a shifty-looking lizard sitting behind it. When he saw the hedgehog and chameleon approaching, he smiled and hit a button on his cash register.   
CA-CHING!   
Sonic put his hands on the counter. "Do you have any..." he began,   
"Cigarettes?" the lizard interrupted, "Yeah, we've got filtered, unfiltered, extra mild..."   
"Yuck!" Sonic exclaimed, "No! I want a..."   
"Newspaper?"   
"No,"   
"Magazine? What, then?"   
"A map."   
"Why didn't you SAY so?" the newsagent demanded, "Two bucks."   
Sonic handed over two dollars, and the lizard gave him a map. Now Sonic had about five dollars left, after this and the accomodation. (It was just a stroke of luck that he had any money at all. A kindly farmer near Storm Port had given him a meal and forty dollars. It seemed that the best in Mobian nature was closer to the Stratosphereon circuit, but nobody smiled more than the people of the City of Clouds themselves).   
"Sure you don't want any cigarettes?" the lizard asked, "Nobody ever buys cigarettes. Nope. Haven't have one sale that I can remember. Then again, it is a nasty habit. Terrible, in fact. Makes people unhappy, come to think of it. Ain't no room for unhappy people here, no room at all. Darn glad there ain't any smokers up here.. what the heck am I doing selling cigarettes? Have I gone completely mad? Forget I said anything, just forget it. Good day to you, this stand is closed."   
He reached up and slammed the shutter down in Sonic's face.   
"Nervous fellow." Sonic said after a moment's silence.   
"Least we got the map." Espio said, "Let's check it out and find this library."   
The map revealed the library to be a large building near the centre of the city. The hedgehog and chameleon departed again into the crowd, looking back at the newsstand only once, which now had a large "CLOSED" sign outside it. Sonic pondered about the strange behaviour of the lizard, his gaze shifting upwards. There was a bridge above the path he was walking on, and both trails were packed with people. But, on the bridge, Sonic caught a glimpse of something disappearing into the crowd, something blue. He recognised it almost instantly, though he had seen it for but an instant.   
"He's here." he said, tugging on Espio's tail.   
The chameleon looked back at him. "Huh? Here? You're sure?"   
Sonic just nodded, motioning for Espio to keep walking. 

The door to a hotel room busted open, and Rasputan Nethergate, the porcupine inside, looked up with a little shriek.   
"He's here." Cinos grumbled from the doorway.   
"What?" Rasp asked, "Here? Him? You're positive?"   
"Positive?" Cinos said, "Positive? I'm one hundred percent NEGATIVE about EVERYTHING, and don't you forget it! But I saw him! I saw that little creep Sonic wandering around out there. We came here to give him the slip!" The porcupine put his face in his hands. The shades were all drawn inside the room, and the darkness was only broken by the glow of at least a hundred candles, arranged in circular patterns with Rasputan sitting in the centre. There were various herbs and jewels spread out in front of him. On his finger was a mood ring which had turned a bright turquoise colour, representing depression. "Aaaah rats! He'll ruin everything!"   
"No he won't, not as long as I have anything to say about it." Cinos replied, "The odds of him stopping us are... well, they're nothing! If it were just him and me, it'd be a stalemate, 'cause we're equal, see. But I've got YOU, Rasp, how CAN we lose?"   
"What if he gets followers?" Rasputan asked.   
"FOLLOWERS?" Cinos burst out into fits of laughter. "How much time has he got to make FRIENDS? He's not THAT attractive, though I must say he's a very handsome fellow. If he even TRIED such a thing, we'd be gone before it even mattered! Now shut up yer yabberin' and tell me where the heck our rune is, will you?"   
"Right. The Rune of Fleg." The porcupine grinned.   
"Aah, Fleg. Represents heroic deeds and the greater good. What a crock. Where is it?"   
"Well, the herbs say that it's here, somewhere."   
Cinos took a flying leap at Rasputan, landing on the ground and staring into the herbs as if they had the information written on them. "HERE?? You mean, in this city?"   
"Uh-huh. Coincidence, huh?"   
"That certainly makes our job easier!" Cinos said, "I reckon we can find this thing and be off with it before Sonic even realises we've been here!" The two began chuckling with laughter, as if Cinos had told a deliciously witty joke. 

"Excuse me!"   
Sonic's voice echoed down the long corridors and halls lined with bookshelves. Apart from him and Espio, one other figure was present. He was a well dressed orange fox, the same species presumedly as Tails, with a dyed black mostache, just two small lines underneath his nose. He stood atop one of the highest rungs of a rediculously high ladder, stretched up in front of a bookcase with at least fifty individual shelves, each one packed with books.   
"Tally-ho!" the fox shouted back down.   
"Is this the library?" Sonic asked loudly, his hands cupped.   
"Well, it sure isn't the aquarium." Espio said in a quiet tone, nudging Sonic with his elbow.   
The fox began to descend the ladder. "Yes it most certainly is. This is the largest library on Mobius... or, in this case, OFF Mobius." He gave a little snort at his own joke, realised that nobody else was laughing, and cleared his throat. "I'm Niles, the librarian. Is there anything in particular I can help you with?"   
Sonic couldn't help notice that the librarian's cultured accent was forced and somewhat annoying, and that he could "help" him by talking like a normal joe. Rather than say this, he said "I'm researching ancient artifacts."   
"Aaah, ancient artifacts!" Niles said, "Cases five, six and seven deal with ancient artifacts. If you could be more specific I could assist you quite a bit easier."   
"Ancient porcupine artifacts." Sonic said, "The Runes of Awakening."   
"Runes of Awakening..." Niles repeated, and he caught a ride on another ladder, climbing to about midway and shifting his way along.   
"Porcupines, let's see... aah yes, here we are, porcupines.." He moved his mouth slightly, reading each topic to himself. Eventually, he said aloud "Nothing specifically on these runes of yours, I'm afraid, but there are some more general tomes that might have something. What about 'Porcupines: The First Culture'?"   
Sonic nodded his head, interested and disappointed at the same time. 

*** 

One of the widest known theories about the origins of Mobian civilisation is that the echidnas were the first to emerge from the era of primitive tools and basic language and form an organised civilisation. The oldest artifacts and constructions to be found on the planet have been, without exception, echidna in origin.   
However, there is new evidence to suggest that the echidnas were outdated by another civilisation by as much as hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. Although their way of life did not involve artifacts that stood the test of time, which explains the theory that the echidnas were around first, fossil excavations of recent times have revealed certain areas of the continent with enormous deposits of porcupine bones, like graveyards. Even more interesting is that dating techniques used on these bones show that they do not, as a rule, match the time period of the soil layers around them - evidence that the dead have actually been buried by the living. This ritual burial is evidence of religious or cultural development, and some of these graveyards outdate the earliest echidna civilisations by centuries. Species statistics have been taken in the most populated areas of Mobius, and thoroughbred porcupines have one of the smallest average percentage for their species of all people on the planet, counting in at 0.8% of Mobius' population. (Hedgehogs, squirrels and foxes are the most common people, with an average percentage of 35%, 20% and 19% respectively). None of the porcupines who have been interviewed know anything of a unique porcupinian culture, by their accounts. The explanation that experts have put foward is that, upon the rise of the echidna civilisation and later others, the porcupine culture was smothered and vanished, and the porcupines themselves were also all but wiped out, through some form of natural selection caused by the extreme diversity of intelligent species on the planet. This theory has been tested on the interesting fact that the echidnas actually hold the record for the single lowest population on the planet, porcupines being the second lowest. No thouroughbred echidnas have been found at all, and less than 0.1% have any echidna blood in their ancestory. The echidnas are statistically extinct, and it looks as if the porcupines might soon follow suit from crossbreeding. 

Sonic looked up from the book. Espio was still reading.   
"Wow." Sonic said, "That echidna stuff is all, like, widely accepted theories, and I'm probably one of the only people who knows it's wrong... me and some friends of mine."   
"Wrong?" Espio asked.   
"Yeah." Sonic replied, "The echidnas didn't crossbreed themselves into extinction, or disappear through natural selection.. they were the victims of a mass abduction fifty years ago by a race of domineering space slugs." Espio burst out laughing, but calmed himself when he saw that Sonic was serious.   
"Maybe, if their theory about the echidnas is wrong, it might be wrong about the porcupines, too. Maybe there are some left, somewhere." Sonic continued.   
"What, you reckon there's a bunch of porki-pines hanging around somewhere?" Espio asked.   
"Sure, maybe. If there are, there'd be no better person to ask about these runes, anyway."   
He turned the page in the book. Two large symbols stared up at him from the paper. The first looked like a lower case letter "t" with one of the prongs bent up. The second was composed of two straight lines and one wavy line, positioned horizontally under one another. The text underneath said: 

The only solid evidence of the ancient porcupine civilisation that had been located by archaeologists are two stones, which are very similar in appearance, though found in two very different places, both buried in the centre of rubble piles which are doubted to have formed naturally. These stones have been dated to be older than the echidnas by centuries. The stones both carry a distinct mark or heiroglyph, though neither mark has been deciphered. They have been nicknamed "Adam and Eve" by scientists, and are the oldest known artifacts in the-- 

"We've got that." Niles, the librarian, announced, stabbing a finger at the picture on the left. Sonic looked up with a gasp. "WHA??"   
Niles jerked back a little, in surprise. "A tad jumpy, are we? That symbol, on the page. We have it. Here in Stratospherion... they call it Eve, don't they? It's in the museum. Ugly looking rock."   
Sonic looked at Espio, mouth agape. "They have one of the runes here! Up here with us!"   
"And Cinos is here." Espio reminded him, "If you saw right."   
Sonic jerked back to Niles. "Where is this thing?" he demanded.   
"The museum!" Niles replied, pointing, "And don't shout! This IS a library, you know." 

CHAPTER TWO: 

Cinos the hedgehog burst through the doors of the museum with great enthusiasm. A lot of people who were standing around, looking at paintings and old rusty artifacts, looked up at him in surprise. He didn't care to keep a low profile, in fact he kept the highest profile possible, walking loudly into the museum and stomping around like he was everybody's business. The usually polite people of the City of Clouds tried not to be annoyed, going back to whatever they were doing. Cinos didn't make it easy, though. He smugly bumped into people, shouting an extremely sarcastic "OH! I'M SORRY MISTER!" or "Excuse ME, Ma'am!" and then flipping them off or blowing a raspberry. He leaned back, and then ran full pelt down a hallway, reaching dangerous running speeds and then jumping into a flying skid. People yelled and jumped out of his way as he wreaked his havoc upon the establishment. He observed an old hat, belonging to some long dead celebrity, and grabbed it, sitting it on his head and laughing like a maniac. He danced the Twister in a display of small pots from some old civilisation, slagged on a painting and then threw the hat into the crowd of astonished people like a frisbee. Running into another skidding sprint, he came to a large room with lots of tapestries, and in the center was a display cabinet. Inside this cabinet was a single flat stone with a mark on it. The mark looked like a bent-up letter "t". The inscription on the plaque that went with it was long and detailed, but the most visible text was the title, which simply displayed "EVE" in inverted commas. Cinos saw this, gasped a lungful of air, and then let out a loud cackle that could only really be described as truly evil. He whipped out a small satchel, fat with whatever was inside it, and turned to the audience to reveal the face of somebody who had gone quite insane from excitement. He held up the bag and, as later reports would indicate, shouted something like "PEOPLE OF STRATOSPHERION! EXPLORE YOUR DARK SIDE!" before spinning around and pegging the bag as hard as he could at the display cabinet as if pitching a baseball. Whatever was inside it went off like a bomb, showering debris all over the museum and charring some of the walls black. By the time the smoke cleared, Cinos Hedgehog was gone, as was the rune. His laughter still echoed. 

"A CRIME HAS BEEN COMMITTED." shouted a voice that came from everywhere and anywhere, as Sonic and Espio stepped through the door to the museum. Both were startled by the announcement.   
"A CRIME HAS BEEN COMMITTED. TOTAL LOCKDOWN HAS BEEN INITIATED. TOTAL CURFEW OF ALL RESIDENTS IS NOW IN OPERATION. RETURN TO YOUR HOMES AND YOUR ROOMS. ENFORCEMENT AGENTS WILL BE RELEASED IN FIFTEEN MINUTES."   
"Wow. Scary." Sonic said. He noticed that they had said the agents would be "released" - not sent out, not dispatched, but released, like they were rabid, caged dogs that would be set free upon the population.   
The museum was full of panicked, agitated people. "There was a CRIME!" somebody said, their voice full of total disbelief, "There was a CRIME! And I saw it!" Everybody began to clear out of the building.   
"Well, I guess this makes our job easier." Espio said.   
Sonic didn't hear him. What he noticed was that everybody was looking at him with an air of discomfort. The people gave him a wide berth as they passed by.   
"Now you've done it." somebody said, and he was shoved from behind. When he turned, his assailant was gone.   
"Don't look now, but you seem to be quite popular, Sonic." Espio pointed out.   
There was a buzzing sound. The lights went out. "Come on," Sonic said, "Let's find the rune and get back to the room. This is getting creepy." They wandered throughout the halls of the museum, looking for the rune stone which was supposed to be there. The buzzing grew louder. As they walked, Sonic noticed that somebody had quite royally trashed the place. And then, in the final room, the largest room, there was an enormous black mark on the floor and walls, complimented by broken windows and the remains of some kind of former display cabinet.   
"Yep, someone committed a crime, alright." Espio said.   
The buzzing suddenly grew to such a pitch that they both had to block their ears. It was now the only sound. "What IS that?" Sonic demanded. The west wall exploded in a fury of sparks and a rain of debris. Outside the museum, where the wall used to be, were about ten thousand hornets, at least. They LOOKED like hornets to Sonic. As for Espio, he had no idea WHAT they could have been.   
"YOU-HAVE-COMMITTED-A-CRIME." they all droned at once, hovering in the one place, the buzzing noise coming from wings that were moving so fast they were barely visible. Sonic could now see that they were machines, and they weren't really built in the image of hornets, but it was the closest thing he could relate them to. They had the barrels of weapons poking out from every crevice.   
"YOU-HAVE-COMMITTED-A-CRIME. ESCAPE-IS-FUTILE. YOU-WILL-BE-TAKEN-TO-CRIME-CHAMBER." 

"Got it?" Rasputan asked.   
Cinos had burst into the room with little regard for the doorknob, and now he was leaning against it to keep it closed, panting. He looked up at the porcupine.   
"Got it? Yeah, I got it! AND THEY ALMOST GOT ME!" He threw the stone he had stolen from the museum into a pile of black pillows on the floor. "These guys were such wooses only ten minutes ago! All smiley-smiley-happy-shiny! Now I feel like I made a raid on the Crown Jewels! What the heck happened?" "Nooo mercy!" Rasp chuckled, nibbling on a fingernail, "Maybe this is WHY they're such wooses! 'Cause of what happens if they rebel!"   
"Yeah, well, we've got to get outta here." Cinos said, "We're going after the next rune as soon as you figure out where it is. If we go while they're still in lockdown, maybe we can lose Sonic, wherever he is."   
"Okie dokie, I'm working on it!" 

The streets were empty and dark. Not a single movement anywhere. 

Prison. Sonic was hurled into it. He had been so dumbfounded by the mechanical hornets that he hadn't protested when they scooped him up, but now he was protesting alright. The enormous clunkers that hauled him in were barely able to keep hold of him. Sonic couldn't tell whether they were robots as well, or heavily armoured Mobians.   
The prison had ten cells. Sonic noticed that every one of them was empty. He began to kick and scream with all his energy, protesting "I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG!" Eventually he was stabbed in the arm with something sharp, and it broke skin. He screamed in pain... but then the pain was gone. Then all his worries were gone. His body fell limp, and a huge grin spread across his face. In his new, blurry vision, he noticed somebody backing away with a hyperdermic needle.   
So then Sonic was hurled into prison, and from that moment he was an outlaw, though currently a very drugged one.   
"Ididntdonuffinrong.." he drawled, his muscles growing weaker by the moment. What was in that needle?   
"Shut up." somebody commanded.   
Sonic did as he was told, sliding slowly until he was prostrate on the cold ground, his arm hanging limply over his head.   
The figure with the voice came into view outside the cell. An enormously obese warthog, two tusks from his lower jaw almost long enough to touch his forehead. He snorted when he breathed and spat when he talked. He was wearing a dirty blue uniform of some kind.   
"You have committed a crime." the hog announced, "Did you really think you could get away? Here? In Stratospherion?"   
Sonic opened his mouth as if to reply, but a long ribbon of saliva emerged from the inside of his cheek and dripped on the floor, and nothing more.   
"I am the Grand Judge. You will answer me when I ask you a question!" Sonic blew a bubble of spit.   
"The City of Clouds was built to be a utopia." the warthog said, not continuing with his former chain of thought. He began to pace back and forth in front of the cell. "It's as close to heaven as you can get, in more ways than one. What you did today is one of the worst cases of vandalism I've ever seen. You desecrated the museum with a lewd public spectacle, you damaged expensive property, and then you STOLE one of our most precious artifacts!"   
"Idunsttthhhhteel....nuffin." Sonic gargled. His eyes glazed over.   
"If you were to tell us the location of the object you stole, we might let you off without too much punishment, seeing as how you are new to this place."   
Sonic's eyelid twitched.   
"I'll give you a while to think it over." the hog said, and he walked out of view.   
Sonic's mind was a cataclysmic explosion of random thoughts, and he hadn't heard the warthog's final sentiment. He was lost in a state that wasn't quite sleep, but he was far from aware. 

Espio was lost.   
Something had taken Sonic away, that much was clear. Hundreds of somethings, in fact. They were creatures the chameleon had never seen before, and they had just burst in and taken him, without even acknowledging that Espio was there. When he had opened his eyes, Sonic was gone, the smoke had cleared, and everything was deathly calm.   
The people were out again. They flooded the streets like nothing happened.   
So, Espio was lost, he had no idea about what he should do, so he did the only thing he could - he seeked help from the only person they had really met since they arrived there.   
And Niles laughed. The sound echoed throughout the library.   
"Yes, I remember you and your friend." the cultured fox said, "Blue hedgehog. Quite a strange thing to see, though I suppose no stranger than a purple iguana."   
"Chameleon!" Espio protested, hands on his hips. His skin turned a slight reddish colour.   
"Yes, yes, whatever. Your friend was an outsider, and he committed a crime. You just can't go around doing that here, you know. The rest of Mobius, maybe, but this place is different."   
"What CRIME?" Espio demanded.   
"That's against the sodding POINT, now isn't it! A crime is a crime! It doesn't matter if he stole a loaf of bread, or if he committed genocide! All crimes are equal in the eyes of Snortzworth, he's the Grand Judge, you know."   
"Sonic didn't commit a crime." Espio said, adamant, "He didn't even steal a loaf of bread."   
"I'm not going to get mixed up with this." Niles said, and he went back to shelving books. Espio dropped his hands to his sides, defeated, and turned to exit. He left the shelves and woody book-smells behind him, reaching the library doorway. As he walked with his head down, he bumped into somebody.   
"Watch it." a voice rasped threateningly.   
"I'm s--" Espio began to apologise, and looked up at the other person. A blue hedgehog. Not Sonic, but Cinos. The evil hedgehog's face showed no signs of recognition.   
"--sorry.." Espio concluded, and he slid away, but did not exit the library.   
Cinos barged forcefully inside. "HEY! Book guy! I need some research material over here!"   
Niles looked up again, and frowned. "Blue hedgehog... what's going on here? You committed a crime... you're in prison."   
"Do I LOOK in prison?" Cinos demanded, "You gonna give me some service around here?   
"Good gracious! You think I'm going to serve a.. ragged.. dirty.. escaped prisoner like you?"   
"What the HELL are you talking about? I'm not..." Cinos stopped, his face suddenly showing a glimmer of thought in his twisted head.   
"You heard they threw a blue hedgehog in jail, didn't you. And they did, too, didn't they... that's why they let everyone outside again."   
Niles slowly, nervously nodded his head.   
"YAHOOO!" Cinos screamed, "SONIC'S IN JAIL! They threw that annoying little PARASITE in jail!"   
Niles shook his head in confusion. "I would like you to get out of the library, please."   
"'Fraid not, old chap." Cinos replied, and he brought into view a small closed sack. "This is what I used to blow up the museum. It's an alchemical mixture, very complex, turns into something like napalm when I throw it. Now, you're going to get me some service here, look up some information for me, or all these bookie-books are gonna go up in smoke!"   
Niles threw his hands up. "Okay! Anything you want!"   
"Right then! It appears I've struck a nerve! I need to research a small island called Septennia, in the Mobian Ocean. Get cracking!"   
At that moment, Espio came out of nowhere and grabbed the bag right out of Cinos' hands. The hedgehog let out a choke and then a wail of surprise. "Wh..What the &^$!!??"   
The chameleon stood back and raised the bag in the air. "Don't move, Cinos, or I'll throw it! I swear I will!" His voice cracked mid-sentence. Cinos put his hands on his hips and hitched his eyebrow. "Who might you be, iguana features?"   
Espio didn't reply. He brandished the sack threateningly. Cinos suddenly let rip a scream and ran full-pelt at Espio, who barely had time to roll out of the way. Cinos screeched to a halt before he collided with the wall. "NILES! GET OUT OF HERE!" the chameleon yelled, running in circles. The librarian didn't have to be told twice. He fled, not quietly.   
Cinos bolted at Espio again, and this time the chameleon didn't move out of the way - instead, he pulled back his arm and chucked the bag across the room. Cinos dug his heels in, turned, and ran after it as it flew through the air. He leaped like a baseball player coming into home plate, and caught the bomb in both outstretched hands.   
When he picked himself up, Espio and Niles were gone. He thought very hard about running after them, his temper pumping venegence fluid through his blood, but instead looked back at the shelves of books. He had what he had come for. 

CHAPTER THREE: 

The weasil lady behind the counter looked up at the nervous fox with an enormous smile. "Grand Judge Snortzworth's office, how may I help you?"   
"There's a maniac on the loose!" Niles shrieked.   
"Would you like to report a crime!"   
"You bet your sodding KNACKWORST I'd like to report a crime!! Some maniac just tried to burn down my library!!"   
"Can you describe the offender?"   
"Hedgehog! BLUE! He was a blue hedgehog! He..." Niles caught a glimpse of the jail cells behind her. In one of them, Sonic slept.   
"THAT'S HIM!! Right there!"   
The weasil looked at the hedgehog behind bars, then stared back at Niles as if he'd gone mad. Espio tugged on his suit, and he stepped back a little. "I told you.." Espio said, "That's Sonic in there. The guy who attacked you was CINOS. They've got the wrong guy in jail! Sonic never did anything wrong!"   
"Well, I'd like to see you try to tell HER that." Niles replied. Espio walked up to the secretary weasil with confidence. "You have the wrong person in jail." he announced.   
"That's impossible, I'm afraid." the weasil said, still smiling, though the expression was forced, "The Grand Judge always gets the criminal."   
"Yes, but you see," Espio began, leaning on the desk, "The Great Judge has mistaken my friend in there FOR the criminal. It's an honest mistake, 'cos they're like twins."   
"If he's in jail, then he's a criminal." the weasil replied, and then proceeded to ignore them both.   
"Come on." Espio said, and pulled Niles outside again.   
"Well, there you have it. If he's in jail, then he's a criminal." Niles said, "End of story. Now, I'm getting back to the lib-"   
"We're getting him outta there." Espio said.   
"WHAT??"   
"We're getting him out of that cell! Sonic's no criminal! It's injustice!"   
"Well, HOW do you suggest you're going to do THAT?" 

"OUCH! Get your foot out of my eye!"   
Espio stood on Niles' shoulders, struggling for balance as the fox writhed beneath him. He held onto the bars of a sealed window outside Sonic's cell.   
"PSSST! Sonic! Sonic!"   
Sonic's eyes blinked open. "Whozzat?"   
"Up! Sonic, look up!"   
Sonic's glazed eyes moved up the wall, fixed on a small window with a chameleon's face staring through. "Ezpio?"   
"Sonic, we've come to get you out of there!"   
"Ezpio.. I can't... Icantgetouttahere, zey drugged.. drugged me." Sonic's voice was drawled and incoherant.   
"Sonic! Try to snap out of it! Who has the keys, do you know?"   
"How zhould I know keys? I can't keys! Not know see!"   
"Come on! Speak slowly, and concentrate!"   
Sonic squinted, wrinkling his forehead. "I think... warthog... Grand Judge! Grand Judge warthog!"   
"Grand Judge warthog? You mean the Grand Judge has them?"   
"Oh dear." Niles muttered from below.   
Sonic was already drifting off to sleep again. Espio climbed down. "That Grand Judge guy has the keys. Come on, lets make a jailbreak!"   
"This really isn't a good idea, you know." Niles said, "In fact it's a BAD idea. There, I said it. It's a bad idea, and I'll have no part in it."   
"Suit yourself." Espio said, and trotted away.   
Niles crossed his arms and faced the wall. 

Back in the entry hall of the prison, Espio peeked around the corner to see that the secretary was deeply buried in paperwork. Slowly, the chameleon creeped into the building, his scales changing colour to match the walls. If one looked directly at him, he could be seen quite easily, but he didn't stand out like a sore thumb to the corner of somebody's eye. Stealthily, he walked beyond the weasil's range of sight and slipped into a doorway labelled with a plaque:   
"Grand Judge Snortzworth"   
And inside was a large, luxurious office, furnished with the most gorgeous antiques, with an enormous warthog sitting at a desk in the centre. Espio froze.. was he caught out? No - Snortzworth was asleep. The giant hog snored loudly, his bulbous stomach lifting and falling with every snort. It also made a faint jingling sound, because, on his belt, the Grand Judge wore a ring of keys.   
As silently as he could, Espio descended into the office. There were pictures all around the walls of the previous Grand Judges - apparently the title was analgeous with that of a mayor or govornor, and he who ruled over the criminals also ruled over the law-abiding. Espio stood beside the warthog, now, and stretched out a hand to grab the keys. They were numbered the same as the cells in the jail. Snortzworth stirred, and Espio's heart caught in his throat. Lunging, he pulled the keys off the belt-hook and tiptoed backwards out the door. 

"You did WHAAAAT?!" Niles exclaimed.   
"Shhhhhh! I got the keys.. like I said I would!"   
"Well, I didn't think you were SERIOUS, now did I! Have you any IDEA what you've just done? You're a criminal! You committed a crime! They'll send out the enforcement agents! You'll be arrested and killed! You'll-"   
"Oh, shut up and give me another boost, will you?"   
"No! I will not! You will not pull me into this, I already told you that!"   
Espio frowned and looked up at the window. Then he cocked his hand back and wound up to pitch the keys through. 

Sonic's eyes blinked open again when something hit the floor of his cell with a metallic 'chink'. Rolling over, he saw a ring of keys on the floor, underneath the barred window. In his drugged state, he didn't make the connection at first, but his mind was returning to him. He was aware that he was imprisoned, and Espio must have thrown him the keys from outside. "That's the second time he's saved you from prison." he thought to himself, "If you're gonna stop Cinos, you ought to stop getting caught."   
He crawled over to the keys and picked them up. They glinted in the dim light as he looked them over. Then he crawled back to the barred door and struggled to pull himself to the lock. As he did, he gained strength, fighting the drugs. His mind began to clear, and he stood without the support of anything. He flexed his muscles and unlocked the prison door. 

The weasel at the front desk had her head down, not really doing as much work as first appearances would seem to show. She was startled out of her semi-daydream by the sound of extremely rapid feet down the corridor, from the jail cells, and then something darn close to an explosion as the escapee burst through the doors to the outside.   
Sonic was back.   
The secretary pressed a button on an intercom and, a smill still on her face, announced that a crime had been committed. 

"Espio!" Sonic exclaimed, and he embraced the chameleon in a full-body hug.   
"I knew you'd come in handy!"   
"Well," Espio replied, "I did have some help from Niles, here."   
Niles frowned at this, and crossed his arms. "I did nothing of the sort! I don't mingle in the affairs of criminals! Leave me out of this!"   
"He's kind of modest." Espio admitted.   
Niles made a spitting sound.   
"Well, thanks anyway, Niles." Sonic said, "Come on, fellers, I'm sick of this so-called utopia, let's get outta here."   
Espio was standing at a gigantic window cut into the side of the city dome, protected by glass. He stared out at what was beyond. "Uhh, how are we gonna do that?"   
"What do you mean?"   
"Well, take a look at this."   
Sonic and Niles walked over and looked down.   
"Uh-oh." the hedgehog choked.   
Below them, quite a distance below them, was water. Blue, vast, endless water that stretched to the horizon and beyond.   
"We've gone out over the ocean." Niles said, "There's no escaping from Stratospherion until we reach Sun Port. And guess what? We're all FUGITIVES as long as we're here!"   
"A CRIME HAS BEEN COMMITTED. TOTAL LOCKDOWN HAS BEEN INITIATED. TOTAL CURFEW OF ALL RESIDENTS IS NOW IN OPERATION. RETURN TO YOUR HOMES AND YOUR ROOMS. ENFORCEMENT AGENTS WILL BE RELEASED IN FIFTEEN MINUTES." 

Cinos was surrounded by a pile of pulled-down books, thrown in a mess around him. In front of him was a large tome with a map on it. It looked extremely old, like something that might fall apart if handled in the wrong way. Cinos traced his hand down the map, over the ocean, until it reached a small island in the middle of nowhere.   
"Septennia..." he mumbled, "So that's the place, eh? The land of the porcupines. Fan-bloody-tastic. Now I just need a way of getting there..."   
"CINOS!"   
The demented hedgehog looked up to see Sonic standing at the doorway, supported by his two new allies. Cinos frowned and stood up. "Yes, Sonic? How nice to see you again! I hope you've been well. No, actually, reverse everything I just said."   
"I've come to stop you." Sonic said, stepping foward, "This has gone on for months. I'm sick of chasing you around the world... I want to go home."   
"Oh, poor little baby wants to go home? Don't let ME stop you, by ALL means! But I ain't tired just yet, I think I'll stick it out for a while."   
"We're all fugitives, Cinos. If you just give the freaking rune back, they'll stop chasing us and we can all end this stupidity."   
"You're asking me to give up so you can claim victory, right?" Cinos asked, "And why would I want to do that, dear brother Sonic? I'm WINNING, remember? I have two runes, you have zilch! Nothagodos and Fleg are mine already, I'm nearly halfway there! If you're trying to stop me, then you're doing a poor job of it! I'm ashamed to say you're my reflection!"   
"Cinos," Sonic began, enraged, "If you don't put that rune back, I'll kill you right here..."   
"Whoops! Sorry, Sonic... murder? That's a CRIME, remember!"   
Sonic leapt at him. Cinos was more than ready, and he leapt as well. Both hedgehogs came into contact in mid air and began to wrestle as they hit the ground. Neither was getting any closer to overpowering the other.   
"YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!" came a sudden scream, and they stopped fighting to look up and notice some sort of policeman posse pouring into the library. They were all heavily armed. Some of the hornet-robots were there also. "PUT YOUR HANDS UP!"   
Sonic got to his feet and noticed that Espio and Niles had already been apprehended. He put both his hands in the air. Cinos did the same.   
Somebody pushed past the law enforcers and made his way into the building. It was Grand Judge Snortzworth. The enormous warthog glared down at both the hedgehogs as he approached.   
"You have disturbed the peace of this fair city for long enough." he said, and he came to a stop in front of Sonic and Cinos, who wore such similar expressions that they appeared almost identical.   
"One of you is a criminal." Snortzworth said.   
Simultaniously, both hedgehogs pointed to the other and shouted "It's HIM!"   
"SILENCE!" the Grand Judge commanded, "One of you is a criminal, which probably means the other one is helping. And I'm going to take you both in until I find out which one of you it is."   
Cinos frowned, and then a devilish gleam in his eyes as he noticed a chance and took it. "Sorry, guys, can't stick around - I'm outta here!" He spun into a flying spin-dash and burst past Snortzworth in a flurry of quills. The warthog was taken utterly by surprise, and everything with a weapon began to try to shoot him down. He was quick, though, and he dodged past bullets and barged past armed guards.   
While everybody was trying to get Cinos, Sonic saw his chance as well. He bounded off in another direction, leaving most of the guards confused about who they should be shooting at.   
"GET THEM!" Snortzworth shouted, "GET THEM! GET THEM BACK HERE!" The hedgehogs left the building - Cinos first and then Sonic in persuit. Espio and Niles began to creep away from the mess, but a heavy hand fell on both their shoulders.   
"No... you two are staying put." Snortzworth snorted, "You two are going to be the ones to explain all of this to me." 

CHAPTER FOUR: 

Rasputan saw all of this from the window of his dark room. The candles glowed behind him in an eerie yellow light. Nibbling on his fingernails, he grinned when he saw Cinos and Sonic evacuate the library. Cinos climbed onto the roof and vanished down a high-set passageway.   
"By George, he's done it again!" the porcupine chuckled, and he looked back into the room. Sitting atop a large star drawn in salt were two rocks - the two runes they had collected - and a pile of herbs.   
"Yes! We're going to do this! We're really going to do this! VICTORY DANCE!" 

Cinos bolted down a dark corridor, and then sidestepped into another, looking back only long enough to see if Sonic was behind him. He saw nobody, but that wasn't evidence enough. Sonic was crafty, like himself. Turning back, he saw a door ahead of him.. an enormous roller-door, like something part of a hangar. It was just sitting in a dark crevice, high in the upper regions of the City of Clouds. He walked up to it and strained to open it. The door was extremely heavy, but it gave way - budging slightly and then rolling. When Cinos caught a glimpse of what was inside, his eyes lit up several watts. He plastered a toothy grin across his face.   
"I knew it! There was so much promise in this place!" 

Sonic was indeed following his evil twin. He assumed Cinos would head towards wherever it was that he was keeping the rune he stole from the museum, which was his key out of this whole mess. Instead, the twisted hedgehog had bolted into the rafters, and he was audibly clanking around up there.   
So Sonic persued him into the darkness, determined to end the entire affair, to stomp on Cinos' crazy dreams about ruling the Universe once and for all. He followed the shadow all the way.. to a closed hangar door.   
"I know you're in there!" he shouted at it.   
Silence.   
Sonic strained with the door handle, forcing his muscles to shift the door open. Eventually he got it open, just a crack, and rolled under it. Inside, the darkness was overwhelming. He couldn't see three inches in front of his face.   
"Cinos?"   
The hangar was eerily quiet. What was this room used for in a place like Stratospherion? Had he made a mistake? Was Cinos even in here?   
The room flooded with light. Sonic let out a surprised grunt and squinted while his eyes adjusted. Then he was shocked by what he saw. The hangar was full of weapons. Guns, rifles, all kinds of projectile weapons. Everybody in Stratospherion was so nice and cheerful, but Sonic supposed even they needed a war room.   
Some of the guns were missing. Sonic took notice of this. He also noticed there were two planes in the hanger with him. Strange looking aircraft - like biplanes, but armed like fighter planes. And one of them was rolling towards him... 

...Rasputan danced a jig in his room, twirling, kicking and shouting in strange languages that could have been anything from Latin to gibberish. He threw his arms into the air and laughed as he danced... 

...Sonic dodged bullets as the plane rolled past him, shooting some kind of machine gun at him. Ratta-ratta-ratta-ratta.. Sonic jumped and barely missed something ricocheing with a metallic 'twang!'. The plane began to turn and the gun adjusted its aim... 

...Rasputan danced around like a lunatic, shouting, laughing, kicking and twirling and knocking over everything in his way..   
..and..   
..Sonic twirled and rolled and knocked over shelves of weapons and dodged madly the fury of bullets. He could see Cinos' head poking out the window now, shooting a hand weapon of some sort as the plane rolled, and..   
..as..   
..Rasputan danced, he swept up the two runes, knocking over a few candles and almost starting a fire. He all but kicked down the door in a fit of hilarity and exited the room, slamming the door behind him with a noise..   
..and..   
..Cinos also intended to exit. He rolled the plane away from Sonic, leaving the killing unfinished for reasons unknown. Sonic was hurt but not injured, and he saw the plane bash through the hangar door as if it wasn't there, lifting off the ground as it did. 

Rasputan stood on a high surface, waving his arms madly at the plane that was approaching. His excitement faltered, however, when it looked as if Cinos intended to run him down. The porcupine wailed and turned to run in the other direction, the propellor drifting closer to him, but the plane went overhead, and something grabbed his arm and yanked him into the open cockpit. Sonic shambled out of the hangar and watched as the plane turned to an enormous sky-light built into the side of the floating city.   
A crowd had gathered below, on the streets, and just about everyone in Stratospherion saw it when Cinos and Rasputan left the city. The plane smashed through the skylight without even stuttering, glass raining down onto the constructions below, and flew to the horizon, the sound of the engine fading into oblivion. 

Sonic had wandered back into the crowd, and therin he located Espio and Niles, who weren't prisoners anymore, but just as free as everybody else. Niles' expression was indifferent, but Espio looked concerned.   
"He escaped with another rune, didn't he."   
Sonic just nodded silently. Cinos had done it again. A heavy hand fell on his shoulder, and Sonic turned in time to see Snortzworth behind him, mumbling in his ear.   
"This has been a strange and confusing series of events." the warthog confided, "I'm unsure about how to handle it, except to say this: When we arrive in Sun Port, you and all your friends are to disembark immediately. If I ever see another blue hedgehog in Stratospherion again, I will not hesitate to take the most drastic of action."   
When Sonic turned to comment, the hand had left him and the Grand Judge had already disappeared into the crowd. He turned back to Espio instead.   
"We'll get the next rune, he can't stop us."   
"How's that?" the chameleon asked.   
"Because," Sonic replied, "In the library, I read that there's another rune in a little town called Cape Detroit, inland to the southwest, and that's where we're headed. Cinos just took flight over the ocean, due east. He's either looking for a different rune, or else he doesn't know what he's doing. Either way, we can be on our way with the next stone before he even arrives."   
Cinos smiled and gave a thumbs-up sign. Niles rolled his eyes in their sockets.   
"I must say, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. You're psychotic.. or delusional.. or both.."   
"Oh, yeah.." Sonic said, "Sorry you had to get tangled up in this, uh, Niles.. you know, if you have nowhere else to go, you could come with us. We could always use someone else on our side.."   
"Not exactly my scene, chap. From what I've seen today, you people have a deathwish."   
"Suit yourself, then. C'mon Espio, let's make the most of what's left of our holiday."   
The hedgehog and chameleon walked off into the crowd. Niles was left alone for several seconds, restraining himself from following. Eventually, he sighed and wandered in the same direction.   
"Niles, you are a right fool." he said to himself. 

The plane was but a speck on the horizon, but one could still see the glint of sun shining off metal every so often. The ocean rolled calmly underneath as it vanished to location unknown, heading east into the endless sea. The City of Clouds drifted south, eventually to meet the land once again. What happened afterwards is another story, one that will be told soon enough. But the hour grows late, the fire dies down, and the circle continues. We all need sleep, perhaps to dream, and to greet the new day. Blessed be, and take care... 

THE END


End file.
